"Who would hire you?"
"Why would they?"
"Why would you have an important role?"
"It's about the connections you have with the industry."
"It's a dry industry"
"People don't get into the industry unless they know somebody and everyone is going for the industry."

I agree. Your friend's advice is just his opinion.
If you want to study genetic engineering, go ahead and study it.
You could wind up designing awesome cutting-edge games about genetics.
You should do more reading about the game industry and how to prepare for a career in game design -- see the articles on my site, for instance (see sig).

__________________
Tom Sloper
Sloperama Productions
Making games fun and getting them done. www.sloperama.com

I think it would be a great major, especially if it interests you. I myself recieved my BS with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. I'm currently working in a cancer research lab by day and by night I'm a aspiring game designer creating flash games and learning as much as I can about the game industry before relocating to a more video game developer friendly city next summer.

I would tell you that majoring in a science field will teach you something more important than just about any other field can. It will teach you, force you, to learn how to think. You will learn how to be presented with a problem and then use what you know to solve a problem to which you can't just memorize an answer. Learning how to learn, and how to solve problems was the most important thing I learned from my undergrad work and I believe that skill is becoming a HUGE benefit for me now as I program my own games and not only have to solve problems such as how I want to accomplish features in my games using what I know, but also finding problems in my games when something is not working properly.

As far as "who would want to hire you?" Any employer that knows you can ace classes in genetic engineering. Believe it or not, you will still have free time during college to begin learning and exploring game design even if it is not your major.

since for a game designing u dont need a game design degree, its good to learn something that you like to learn and its interesting for u, knowledge about anything in the world can be useful in game design. i like to see science inside games.

Becoming a designer is more about networking, game design experience, and showing leadership capability than your major. I majored in Computer Science before becoming a designer. Getting a game design degree isn't really recommended if you can avoid it, because it limits you to that career (and you may find that you want to do something else).

Your major won't limit you. If you want to become a designer though, you'll need to start making some games and showing you can do the job.

Becoming a designer is more about networking, game design experience, and showing leadership capability than your major. I majored in Computer Science before becoming a designer. Getting a game design degree isn't really recommended if you can avoid it, because it limits you to that career (and you may find that you want to do something else).

Your major won't limit you. If you want to become a designer though, you'll need to start making some games and showing you can do the job.

Best of luck!

Thanks guys! This really means alot. By the way, I've been thinking about finding people I can work with to design games, however... I'm not sure if I can find anyone. I had an interesting idea for a fighting game, however, there quite a few flaws that I can't work out without a team plus, College's been keeping me busy so I haven't had way too much time to make a good design document. (It's a fighting game) Bleckh : S

Designers I've known have had degrees in math, engineering, philosophy, english, history, and computer science.

Study whatever you want, but make a good portfolio by making mods or small games on your own time.

How would I make these "small games"? I'm no programmer and I suck at drawing. The only thing I have is a design document, however, even then... The project isn't very small, is it possible? I'm sure it is... However, it kind of somewhat has a deep system. It's a fighting game that has what one of my friends called "An innovative idea".